If you believe that Africa is indeed open for business, consider attending the launch of the Africa Entrepreneurship Platform at the Harvard Club of New York on Thursday, February 28th. The quarterly forum, supported by the Clinton Global Initiative and administered by the South African Chamber of Commerce (SACCA), aims to connect South African entrepreneurs with U.S. investors in the pursuit of "sustainable job creation and economic development."

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Position: Communications Officer / Web Editor

Location: Washington, DC

Organization: CGAP (Consultative Group to Assist the Poor) is a consortium of 33 public and private funding organizations - bilateral and multilateral development agencies, private foundations, and international financial institutions - working together to expand poor people's access to financial services.

Position Description: CGAP seeks a Communications Officer with high energy and fresh thinking who can generate innovative ideas for communicating CGAP's work to a wide range of audiences as well as implement these ideas for strategic results. The ideal candidate will be an experienced Web editor with knowledge of Web marketing techniques, the ability to write well and a track record in effective Web campaigns.

For more details or to apply, visit the CGAP website or contact webeditor@collab.cgap.org

In 2007, I had the opportunity to consult for a newly formed NGO trying to establish a BoP venture in South East Asia. The NGO's management team had years of experience running small-to-medium sized businesses, had raised a sizable amount of capital, and had formed an all-star team of advisers. To the management team, South East Asia's economic potential was on the up-and-up; they felt that this was a great opportunity to leverage their professional expertise and capital for a social good.

I traveled with the team to the region on a short trip and we developed a business plan – we identified specific unmet needs across a range of communities, created a pricing structure whereby customers who had higher disposable income effectively subsidized the poor, and found local partners to help scale up the venture. Everything was set to go.

However, at the end of the day, the project didn't launch because no one from the management team wanted to move full-time to the region to live among the people the NGO wanted to serve. In other words, no one wanted to do the heavy lifting of starting a BoP venture. The management team thought, incorrectly, that it could simply manage the venture from the States – parachuting in and out of the region multiple times a year. There were a variety of reasons for this approach: family, comfort, lifestyle, and finances – to name a few.

The idea was great, but the commitment wasn't there to make it a reality. If I had actually known that this was plan early on, I probably wouldn’t have traveled with them overseas, saving them time and money. If the NGO wanted to succeed, it needed its own personnel on the ground, working with the local people. There are many in the business community who are eager to do something good for the world, but what they don’t see, at least initially, is the cost involved in making it happen. It goes well beyond writing a check for charity. Check writing: that is the old model.

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